Ghost within the Avatar
by donalgraeme
Summary: What if Jake had his legs when he came to Pandora? What if he had been a member of a top-secret black ops team before his arrival. How will a trained killer afraid of himself survive the Na'vi? This is the story of Jake Sully
1. Chapter 1

**Avatar fic numero dos! As with most good ideas, this came out of the blue. Here it is. Enjoy!**

* * *

"You have been in cryo for five years, nine months, and twenty-two days! You will be hungry, you will be weak, if you have any trouble please ask an attendant for help!" The warren continued with his prepared speech, but it went ignored by Sgt Jake Sully. He pulled himself along the rails planted in the wall, the microgravity making him feel like he was underwater, only dry. He pulled himself to his appointed locker. The door slid open smoothly, revealing the cavity in which Jake had stored his pack, almost six years prior.

'_Tom would have been 37 by now.'_ The thought came unbidden, and Jake had to fight down the automatic pang of loss. Losing a twin was like losing half of yourself, doubly so for identicals. Even when life is beating you down and taking a crap in your mouth, you could rest assured that somewhere in the world, someone was out there who felt things the way you did, thought along the lines you thought, always knew exactly what you needed without having to be told. It didn't matter that Tom was a biologist and Jake was gunning guerillas down in Venezuela; they both had a connection, something bone deep, that had tied them together since birth.

Without that tether, Jake felt lost, weightless; even more so than he currently was in the cryo-chamber of the _ISV Venture Star_. Jake had been on leave, waiting to say goodbye to his brother before he left for God-only-knows how long for Pandora. Whereas Jake had always seen the alien moon as something from a bad sci-fi novel, with the heroic humans leaping into a hostile landscape to protect mankind and educate the poor savages, Tom had been hooked. He'd spent an extra two years in college, paying the exorbitant rates of the Neo Ivy League University from his own pocket, to get his Ph. D. in Xenobiology. All so that he could be selected to go to Pandora, take place in the Avatar program and explore wonders untouched by man.

Then, a week before Tom's dreams were about to come true, he got killed by some transient with a gun and an empty wallet. When Jake had heard the news, his first impulse had been to hunt down the guy and tear him apart with his bare hands. His legs, recovered from their brief stint of total numbness, had been twitching with his repressed desire to bolt through the streets of NYC and find this guy. Like a caveman, he wanted to take out the one who'd taken away a loved one from him.

His week of leave, now unnecessary, was still in effect. Jake had decided to dull the pain with some good ol' ninety proof. Even with water a commodity, most hydration supplied in the algae that was all there was to eat; alcohol had still limped on into the twenty-second century, giving weary men a chance to forget the world around them. Jake had been at the bar, enjoying his third (or was it fourth?) glass of bourbon when he'd been approached by two suits. They'd all but cornered him.

They'd told him lots of things. They told me how the only one that could operate Tom's avatar was me, since we were twins. They told me that I was needed to ensure that a multi-million dollar investment in a multi-_trillion_ dollar operation didn't go to waste. They told me that I'd be helping mankind that I'd never need money ever again when I got back, on and on they talked. In my inebriated state, I'd kindly all but verbally flipped the bird. They were relentless, though. They'd approached me again as I waited to watch Tom be cremated. They'd had a folder. Inside was a bunch of official-looking paperwork. They'd reminded me how important this was. They showed me how everything had been taking care of.

I'd honestly been frightened when I'd seen they indeed had everything cleared. Money talks and RDA had shown me how deep their pockets were: deep enough to talk to someone who technically didn't exist.

Now sober, and filled with a newfound healthy caution of RDA, I'd considered the offer. As Tom's body was consumed in flames, I could have sworn I felt a gentle nudge, a playful push towards the suits. Before I had consciously registered the fact, I'd signed on the dotted lines. Now, here he was, staring off into figurative space at his open locker while he floated in literal space.

Jake sighed, before shaking the thoughts off. He hooked the pack into his shoulder, and went through the routines of getting food and warming up unused muscles with the mechanical obedience of any pensive soldier. Time was on fast-forward. Suddenly Jake was sitting in the shuttle, just another in a long line of mercenaries. I watched through the window as, with state-of-the-art efficiency, the shuttle detached from the _Venture Star_, its fusion engine powering the thrusters that were catapulting them at mach 4 towards the Pandoran atmosphere. Gyroscopes were good; he didn't feel a thing.

Jake watched as they neared the surface, the flat green he'd seen from space morphing into flora that seemed to come straight from a child's fantasy. _'I'm here, Tom,'_ I thought, watching with a small amount of wonder the beauty of the moon. I'd never seen so much green before; in a planet dominated by steel and glass and smog, the only living plant life was the few protected parks that had somehow survived in a poisoned world. Now, Jake could see with his own eyes trees that would rival the atmo-scrapers of any major city.

The shuttle landed, and I put on my exopack. I noticed how all the other guys moved with eerily similar, clockwork motions, marine training turning them into a single cohesive being. I stood apart. That was to be expected. I was different from them, like a wolf among sheep. No one here had gone through the training I'd gone through after my last tour in Venezuela. None of them had stood in the presence of Shadow. I shook those thoughts from my head. That info was classified, even inside my head.

I heard the CO barking off commands. "Make sure your exopack is firmly secured! This atmosphere will drop you cold in twenty seconds. You'll be dead in four minutes tops! When that hatch opens, you are to enter the base in an orderly fashion! You will not stop, you will not break formation! Welcome to Pandora, people!" The resounding call of "OOH-RAH!" seemed to echo in the small space. I opted to remain silent. I shouldered my pack, and unclipped my harness the instant the hatch opened.

I stood up with the rest of the company, following with a balanced, brisk stride while the other guys practically jogged across the surface of the base. I kept pace, but observed my surroundings, finding details and committing them to memory. The meter-thick walls were regularly interspersed with towers, and the open-air part of Hell's Gate, as it was unofficially named, was swarming with other mercenaries, Samson helicopters, AMP suits, and the occasional massive dozer. Humans had erected a sanctuary in the heart of a hostile, foreign territory, a concrete sore in a lush, green hellhole. I felt vaguely impressed.

I followed the jarheads to a briefing room, discarding my exo-pack as I entered the base. I calmly took a seat near the back, so I could observe everything. That's the kind of thing you do, when you're… I cut off the thought before it was completed. I didn't like dwelling on the fact that black ops had made me different. Without fanfare, a middle-aged marine entered. He was at least forty, hair gone prematurely white, but his muscles still bulged like a twenty-something wrestler. His eyes were cold, and a scar made by some alien creature marred the right side of his head.

He spoke with a clear voice, disregarding all other sounds to make way for itself. Total silence occurred in seconds; a higher-up was speaking. "You are on Pandora. Respect that fact, ladies and gentlemen. After today, if you're looking for some R&R, I'd suggest Dante's ninth circle. Outside these walls, everything that runs, flies, and crawls through the mud are out to eat your eyes for juju juice." I was tempted to laugh; after all I'd gone through, it would take a lot more than this guy to make me afraid of some random hellhole.

"We have an indigenous population of humanoids called the Na'vi. They favor bows and arrows tipped with a neurotoxin that will kill you within a minute, and their skeletons are reinforced with naturally-occurring carbon fibers. They are _very_ hard to kill." He paused, perhaps to let the grunts conjure images of inhumane savages. "I am Colonel Miles Quaritch. It is my job as Chief Security Officer to ensure you all survive. I will not succeed. Not unless you each cultivate a strong mental attitude. You've got to play by the rules; Pandora's rules."

Quaritch proceeded to outline RDA's purpose on Pandora, and the fresh meat's duties as bodyguards. I filtered it all through a haze of boredom, but I paid attention; knowledge was power and all that. I knew all about Unobtanium, though; he didn't need to tell me about that stuff. It was the reason I still had my legs. Once again, I tried to erase the incriminating thought. God, losing Tom had made me lose my edge. I had to remind myself that I'd left my shadowy practices when I'd committed myself to the Avatar program.

When the meeting ended, I made my way to the lab; I'd been instructed to meet with the scientists involved with the Avatar program. Along the way, I heard someone calling out to me. I turned around to see a tall-ish guy with brown hair and eyes that seemed to practically glow with suppressed excitement, like a kid not daring to believe it when he got locked overnight in an amusement park. "You're Jake, Tom's brother right?" I nodded, and shook his proffered hand, giving him a brief shake. As I continued walking, he kept pace, seemingly overflowing with conversation.

"I'm Norm, Norm Spellman. I'm in the Avatar program too. I heard about Tom, and that sucks, but now you're here! You aren't going to believe how lucky you are, man. I've been studying for five years to get here, and I can't wait to get in my Avatar. This place is so amazing, isn't it?" He kept up a non-stop chatter about his many accomplishments and his eagerness to get started with the Avatars.

I kept mostly silent, answering questions when asked, letting him control the flow of conversation. The guy reminded me of Tom, with his fascination in things that I simply didn't understand. In short order, I reached the lab. The room was dominated by two giant tubes, glowing with a blue liquid and something else. A dark-skinned scientist in a white coat was waiting for us. He introduced himself as Max Petrel, and he was immediately bombarded by Norm's effervescent chatter. While they talked, I made my way to the tube on the left.

Tom's Avatar, my Avatar, was floating inside. I was entranced. Floating in blue fluid, an umbilical cord winding towards the false placenta was a stretched-out, feline, blue version of me. At least nine feet long, its expression peaceful, my avatar waited, having fully-matured over the journey here. I noted its long ears, the tail, the braid of hair, but I could see the human parts in its five fingers, the jaw much like my own, and the normal-shaped eyes.

Norm, uncharacteristically silent, came up beside me. "He looks like Tom," I said, silently remembering my brother and swearing to uphold his legacy. Norm said "He looks like you." Whether he was contradicting or agreeing with my statement, I didn't know. Lost in thought, I followed Max as he herded us to the linking chamber, where he said we where to meet the head honcho.

As we entered, Norm whispered excitedly in my ear. "This is totally awesome! We get to meet Dr. Grace Augustine! She wrote the book on Pandora, I'm serious. This whole program, all our progress with the Na'vi, is all thanks to her." I patiently endured this tirade, before I calmly told him "She wants Tom, not me. I can't say I'm very eager." I liked Norm, he had that attitude that made you want to be his friend, but I felt obligated to remind him that I wasn't a scientist like him.

Norm shut up, though didn't seem offended. The room had a central hub, aglow with holographic monitors, with several rectangular pods hooked into the circular wall. Each had its own control panel. One of them opened, and a middle-aged woman with short red hair and strong cheekbones emerged. "Where's my damn cigarette?" she asked gruffly, looking like she'd just woken up on the wrong side of the bed. Another scientist patiently handed her a lit cancer stick, which she immediately took a long drag from.

Dr. Augustine turned to face Norm and me while Max took the time to introduce us. Her eyes instantly locked on me. She was tall, and was around eye-level with me; it provided her a better opportunity to glare. "Great, I've got some trigger-happy jarhead running around, ruining all the progress I've made." She seemed to look right past me as she barked at Max. "Where's the Ph. D. certified brother with four years' training?"

"He's dead," I snapped, thoroughly annoyed with this woman. "It makes things hard for everything, but you'll excuse me for being the only thing you've got." Her glare seemed to intensify, as if she were trying to burn me to a cinder with her frustration. I stood my ground; I'd faced too many nightmares made flesh to be intimidated by some haughty science woman. She turned away from me to Norm, and began questioning him and speaking in some alien language, which Norm eagerly reciprocated. I sensed she hadn't backed down; merely put her assault on hold for another, less fortunate man.

With the knowledge that I'd start tomorrow, and the advice from Max to try and use big words, I made my way to the barracks. I was walking down the hall when I heard Colonel Quaritch behind me. "Hold it, Sergeant." I halted, turning to face the man. His eyes were calculating and cautious, as if I were a threat. I tensed; this guy was suspicious, and suspicion did not bode well, considering the secrets I had. The fact we were alone in the hall was suddenly very noticeable.

"I pulled up your file, Sully. Very impressive. Those tours in Venezuela were nasty." I nodded cautiously. His expression turned grim. "It's interesting; the medical report said your spine snapped from that sniper's bullet. You were about to be honorably discharged for being a paraplegic. After that, it just cuts off. Like someone tried to hide something." He regarded my perfectly functional legs, as I prepared for the worst. "I didn't live this long by not knowing things. What I want to know is how you could have possibly paid for a 400k operation with your pay grade and benefits, and I use the term lightly." He was silent, expectant.

"That's classified." I told him, falling back on the truthful answers that, I knew, would only provoke more questions, but I could tell this guy could smell lies. Before he could argue, I continued. "I'm sorry, Colonel, but I'm under gag order. Unless you've got presidential approval, I'm not at liberty to discuss the specifics of my treatment and the events pertaining. Have a nice day." With that, I turned on my heel and walked away. I felt his gaze boring into my back. He thought I was some arrogant punk, flipping him the bird. If he only knew…

* * *

I am, or at least I was, a member of Project SPECTRE. SPECial TRaining and Equipment made Delta Force look like the neighborhood watch. It was a top-secret, black ops operation that focused on using Unobtanium injections to create super-soldiers. Unobtanium was a superconductor, a self-contained energy circuit in every gram. Our leaders had been… curious about how it would affect a human being. After the discovery of Pandora, the current POTUS herself, along with SecDef had created the program to test how the human being could be enhanced by this miracle mineral.

I'd been randomly selected from a group of candidates, stolen in the night from my apartment while I'd still been adjusting to the wheelchair. My spinal had practically been a formality after I'd accepted, and I was thrust into the boot camp out of hell. I trained and learned and worked myself to exhaustion, in order to become a nonentity, a blade in the night. I could take apart and put back together any weapon you cared to name whilst blindfolded, could stalk past a grazing deer without alerting it, and could find half a dozen ways to kill someone by just glancing at them.

SPECTRE soldiers were strategically implanted with small amounts of Unobtanium straight into the bloodstream, bones, and brain. We were stronger, faster, and smarter than any other human. I'd become a marine to challenge myself, pass any test a man could pass. Now, there was nothing I could not accomplish. I could lift weights beyond the most devoted bodybuilders, run a marathon with the best, climb a mountain bare-handed. I was being molded into the perfect weapon. It had been liberating, after my brief stint as an invalid, but also scary, in a way.

The unit was small; twenty people at most, led by subject zero himself, who'd been codenamed Shadow. The White House was our babysitter, but it was Shadow who called the shots. I'd come to both admire and fear Shadow; I'd never actually met him in person, but his voice as it resounded from his hidden face as it outlined his strategies and orders for the mission brooked no questioning. It felt like talking to a ghost, untouchable and invisible. In the pecking order, we technically didn't exist, so we were able to do the missions no one liked to talk about.

Special ops worked on the really delicate stuff, like dictators and invasions. However, we focused on the stuff straight out of conspiracy theorists' ravings. We performed unspeakable operations, both on American soil and in foreign areas, cleanly, quietly, and perfectly. In the sixteen months I'd been on the squad, I'd accrued more nightmare material than all my years in the Marine Corps put together. SPECTRE was the thing that chewed you up and didn't bother spitting you out either end. You did badly, and you were killed in cold blood for interfering with the operation. You do well, and you were erased from public records and started working on ESP and Psychokinesis.

I'd been lucky to get the week off to see Tom off. Shadow had started dropping hints on putting me through the 'advanced' training. I'd been scared shitless of the whole program, but I was a die-hard patriot and I was comfortable that however heinous my actions, it was all for the greater good. I'd been both relieved and disappointed when RDA had taken it off my hands, though more the former if I was being honest with myself. Again, it was fairly shocking that RDA was entrenched that deeply, to be able to lift me straight out of the shadows.

I had no idea how my life was going to play out. My SPECTRE training had taken root in my whole life, making me act differently than anyone else, changing me from within. I briefly thought about what someone with my experience could do in a ten-foot indestructible Na'vi body. I shivered.

I found my cot, and went to bed. Tomorrow was going to be a big day. I was going to start working in my new body. I pushed thoughts of my personal demons to the back of my mind. Tom's dreams had led to me being brought into the light, and while I wasn't sure if I was comfortable anymore outside the anonymity of the shadows, I would adapt as I always had. I would take each day as it came, and to hell with the nightmares.

* * *

Surprisingly, those nightmares didn't rise to the bait. I slept peacefully for the first time in I don't even remember how long. When I awoke, Pandora's sunrise was shining through the window in the bunk room. The still-sleeping forms of the mercenaries were in the bunks around me, still operating on Earth-time. I, on the other hand, reacted to any and all light with instant awareness. I rubbed my sore muscles, and took a moment to fully analyze my body; my temporary brush with paralysis had made me realize how important it was.

The Unobtanium treatments from SPECTRE weren't consciously noticed; it wasn't like I suddenly thought as fast as a computer and buffed out more than a Neanderthal. My body had adapted overtime, the natural qualities of the substance diffusing into every aspect of myself. I could feel my muscles, thin and wiry like a triathlon-champ or a swimming prodigy, and dense from constant toning. My mind worked at its paces, becoming fully awake. In my perspective, it wasn't that I was doing better, just that everyone else was doing worse. I had to work hard to move slower, not use as much strength. I was like the Disney version of Hercules, not knowing how much I could do and having to take care not to break things by accident.

My senses had skyrocketed as well, giving me the eyes of a hawk, ears of a bat, and nose of a bloodhound. So, all I had to do to find the Mess Hall was follow the smell of warming food. I found myself accepting the algae packet and caffeine solution from a dour-looking soldier, before sitting in a corner and observing the other early risers. I ate my food, not really tasting it. When I finished, lacking anything better to do, I made my way towards the lab. I found none other than Dr. Augustine herself, going over some graph on a holo-pad.

She regarded me out of the corner of her eye, but otherwise ignored me. I paced around the room, observing the psionic pods in greater detail than I had yesterday. She abruptly broke the silence. "I talked to Parker. Unfortunately, I'm stuck with you. He said you come 'specially prepared' or some other bullshit, but as far as I care, you're just another gun-slinging idiot." She wasn't using an insulting tone, merely stating it as if it were truth, which was much more annoying. She looked up to face me. I met her gaze without hesitation.

"How's your Na'vi?" she asked, the talk assuming the atmosphere of an interview. "Nonexistent, but I'm willing to learn," I answered truthfully; the faster she came to understand me, the faster she would stop judging me without evidence. "How much do you know about the flora and fauna?" she asked. "Some, I read the manual." Her eyebrows disappeared into her hair, as her expression started screaming 'are you kidding me?' "Have you ever even been in a simulation pod?" I shook my head in response.

She stared at me incredulously before rubbing her temples, looking as if she needed nicotine to help her combat her newfound stress. "So, you thought you'd just come out here, to the most hostile environment known to man, and just… wing it?" She was looking at me as if I were the sole reason for all the problems in her life. If there was anything I'd learned from Tom, it was that scientists like to plan. They had questions, and formed plans to find the answers. When someone messed up their plans, it was a miniature doomsday. I was a big wrench in Dr. Grace's plans.

"Maybe I was hoping my ghosts couldn't follow me here," I said quietly, the answer leaving my lips without being formed first in my brain. However, as soon as I said it, I knew it was true; I'd left because I wanted to escape the heartless jaws of SPECTRE. Tom had merely been the catalyst. She seemed surprised by my answer, and the disapproval in her expression went down a little bit, replaced by mild curiosity, but there was still plenty of the first one left. She went back to her pad, leaving me in silence. I took it as a sign she didn't think I was _totally_ useless; she'd have said so to my face if she did.

Seeing that her immediate irritation had disappeared, I felt myself asking her questions. Soldier's instinct; always trying to develop Intel. Plus, I was honestly curious. "These Avatars… they've been growing in pods. They've never done anything before. They're practically being born when we drive them for the first time." Grace looked up, suspicion and curiosity in her eyes. That's a scientist for you: always eager to answer questions and show off their knowledge to the ignorant masses. "That's correct," she said, keeping one eye on her graph.

"Does that mean I have to relearn how to walk?" I asked. If she answered yes, that would be a problem. If I were honest, I'd come to enjoy the fringe benefits of SPECTRE, including my lightning reflexes. I could live with my body not being doped up with Unobtanium, figuring that the alien body was already naturally better than any human one. But, training was training, regardless of your species in my mind, and I wanted to know if all my hard-earned CQC routines would be lost once I entered my Avatar.

She snorted in amusement, not seeing past the surface of my question. Her full attention back on her notes, she answered my question offhandedly. "The pods completely link the two nervous systems. The Avatar's nerves mold themselves into the general shape of the originals within the first hour. The mind is convinced that it _should_ be shaped this way, so it forces the body to match. All muscle memory is transferred." I shrugged, trying to conceal how relieved I was. Big blue bad-assery, here I come.

I kept my mouth shut afterwards; with Quaritch already paranoid, the last thing I needed was another ring-leader overly curious about me. Patience was something I'd learned long ago; fortunately, I didn't need it now. The scientists liked to make the most of the day, and it was barely an hour after sunrise when all the scientists were assembled. I could see Norm, looking as if he was having a hard time not wetting his pants. I rolled my eyes at his childish eagerness, but I had to admit I was a tad pumped as well.

Grace herself led me to my own pod. She opened it, and I obediently settled into the soft foam mold where my human body would rest for the day. As she pulled down the sensors that would read and transmit my electrical impulses to my Avatar, she told me the ground rules with the pods. "Please keep your hands inside and your head down. Relax, and let your mind go blank. Shouldn't be too hard for you." I chuckled at her light-hearted jab, before she closed the lid and left me in darkness.

I listened to the rumbling of the machinery, before closing my eyes. I acted like I was about to go to sleep, systematically relaxing my muscles from my toes on up. I silenced all the distracting thoughts in my head, focusing only on my breathing, in and out, in and out. As the mantra filled my head, I experienced an odd sensation, like I was slowly sinking down through space. I tried to go with it, feeling no fear towards the new experience. It felt like my soul was slipping out of my body like it was a wetsuit, eager to inhabit the new body offered to it.

I felt myself completely slip from my flesh, and I was flying. Like an LSD addict's overdose, I was being hurtled through a twisting tunnel of multi-colored light. I couldn't tell you if I were moving forwards or backwards, only that I was soaring through a rainbow at dizzying speeds. I was moving to fast to feel; my emotions had been left behind at the starting line.

In a jolt that through me completely off balance, I was in a body once again. My mind flailed around, wondering which way was up as it settled into its new foundations. I felt jittery, but oddly tired, like I was coming down off an adrenaline high. Sounds were odd and jumbled, incomprehensible. I opened my eyes, and my vision was blurry. Slowly, as my conscious mind figured out where everything was, my vision cleared. Two scientists were hovering over me, wearing exo-suits, giving me a flashback of every cheesy alien movie I had ever seen.

"Good, he seems stable. Jake, can you hear me? I need you to do some tests for us. Can you sit up?" One of the faceless scientists asked, her feminine voice coming across as soothing. Blankly, I flexed my abs to bring my upper half vertical, and I became suddenly aware of how much taller I was. The scientists were staring at my chest. I looked down at myself, and saw I was in one of those hospital gowns, the kind with the tie-up back. I watched with disbelieving awe as I clenched my blue hands, with long, nimble fingers. I glanced at my long arms, curling my toes.

I became aware of an odd tingling at the base of my spine, like background noise in my thoughts. I looked over my shoulder, and saw a long tail waving in the air. Wow, a whole new limb. That would take getting used to. I turned to my left, to see the cat-like indigo version of Norm submitting himself to the scientists' tests, a look of childlike awe on his face.

The scientists around me were talking to me, trying to make me do their silly tests, but I was already reaching for the tubes and electrodes stuck on me. I didn't need this; I was perfectly fine, and I was going to walk out of here. I deflected the doctors' distress as I swiveled around and stood up. I strode up to the glass window separating me from the psionic chamber. I peered at my reflection in the glass. My hair was too long. I tried not to chuckle at the random thought. I suddenly felt cramped; the room was too small, too still. I wanted to be outside.

The scientists' were practically shaking when I took off at a light pace towards the entrance outside. I paid no heed to the trail of destruction my tail unintentionally caused. I was used to ignoring others who couldn't directly harm me; they couldn't exactly stop me, and at the end of the day they'd just say he was some idiot too stubborn to make sure the oh-so-important _investment_ was safe before venturing out.

There was nothing but a simple door blocking me from the outside world. I opened it easily, and emerged into my first real time on Pandora. Freed from the confines of the exo-pack, I could fully appreciate the sun on my face, the wind blowing through the trees. My lungs breathed in the air, and to me it felt fresh, though some corner of my mind tried to remind me it was a cocktail of ammonia and other gases fatal to humans. I told that part to shut up; I wasn't a human right now.

I was in the Avatar section of the base, as different from the rest as black was from white. Whereas Hell's Gate was generally a place of strict work and dreariness, I found myself in a green recreational area. A basketball court and a few obstacle courses stood dominant in an area filled with native grass and plants, the result of the botanists' labors. Eager to warm up this new body, I ran down the aisle of one of the gardens, enjoying the feel of the soil beneath my toes and the exertion of running.

I stopped halfway down, slowing down from my mad sprint. My limbs were getting tired far faster than I cared for. Ah well, nothing my usual calisthenics over the next few weeks won't fix. I calmed my breathing, and extended my senses. I was amazed how intense everything was; it was like I'd been handed the power of my SPECTRE senses without the fine-tuned control I'd built overtime. Still, that could be ironed out. I listened to the rustlings of the forest, and the cries of the various animals that were only yards away from the walls. I watched as the trees bent and swayed with the wind and the hidden movements of the creatures within. I was breathing in almost comically through my nose, filling my lungs with the strange, unfamiliar scents, and committing them to memory.

"Hey, marine!" I broke myself from my musings, turning to see what was unmistakably Grace. She was wearing a tank-top and shorts that I knew must be extra larges', but looked tight on her giant body. Her feet were clad in sandals. She seemed much less uptight as one of the Na'vi, like all the troubles that plagued her human time had slipped away. She grabbed one of the fruits from a bush near her, and tossed it to me. I easily caught it. "Your motor functions look good," she noted, while I bit into the fruit. It was shockingly sweet, and I tried and failed to stop the juice from dripping down my chin. She smiled at my undoubtedly goofy expression; I hadn't had this much fun since I was a kid.

In short order, the chaos I'd caused in my 'unauthorized' trip was sorted out. I was dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, along with sneakers that were the size of my human head. Norm was clumsy in his Avatar, and spent most of his time just staring at everything and asking questions from the other Avatars, Grace watching in the background, like a den mother.

I, on the other hand, went through the agility courses. At first, I was almost as clumsy as Norm. But as time went on, Dr. Augustine's words from this morning proved true. In no time, I was going through the tires, ropes, and various other challenges with all the panther-like grace I enjoyed in my normal body. However, there were inconsistencies; my body might now how to move the right way, but it wasn't used to it. I had the experience, but it didn't do much good until my body could catch up. My body was _ready_ to react a certain way, but failed in the execution.

I did some light exercises, trying to make my muscles something workable. That took up a good chunk of my time. Basic pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, and stretches were easily done, but I was forced to take frequent rests. I tried not to notice how easy I was blistering. My Avatar's skin had never formed calluses, so all the heavy-duty parts of my body were fast approaching beetroot status. Half my normal workout routine accomplished, I found a clear area of grass.

I took a deep breath, completely filling my lungs. Slowly, I brought my fist forward in a controlled movement. With equal deliberation, I brought my right leg up in a kick, balancing myself on my remaining foot. I brought my foot down, before twisting around to deliver a jab from my elbow. I noticed people were stopping to stare, but I ignored them, my world shrinking to the small patch of grass in which I was standing.

My hand-to-hand combat was a mixture of boxing, muay thai, and aikido. I'd been trained by the literal best in SPECTRE, as I learned how to fight by the usual standards of the project: pitch perfect. With growing speed, I went through my routines, my mind not seeing the Avatar area, but a sea of formless enemies. I envisioned them attacking from all angles, and reacted accordingly. I lunged, feinted, moved with the grace of a predator, taking down each imaginary opponent with swift, coordinated movements.

I kept moving faster and faster, till my glands started pouring sweat from the intensity of my practice. With a flourish, I took out the last guy in my mind, holding my stance as best I could as I caught my breath. I noted where I'd gone wrong, and resolved to fix it. I slid my feet together until I was in a normal standing position, now uncomfortable with the sweat drenched in my clothes. The bright sun definitely did not help.

I heard applause. I turned around, to see I had a small audience, Norm at the forefront. He was the one clapping. "Wow! I knew that you could fight, since you're a marine and all, but whoa!" The others were murmuring among themselves, and I felt warmth flood my cheeks. I'd just been working on bringing my body back up to my usual standards; I didn't need praise. I didn't see anything out of the ordinary with what I'd just done, but I reminded myself that these guys were civilians, biologists and botanists; they weren't expected to fight.

I waved off the applause, my eyes scanning the area for anyone else who might have noticed. The good doctor was a short distance away, regarding me with a cautious curiosity. I don't know how much of a hint Parker might have given her, but I'd certainly just proved that I was, indeed, 'specially prepared' for the title of bodyguard. I noticed that the sun was going down; the day had flown by.

Dr. Grace rounded us all up, allotting me and Norm our own bunks in the covered shelter. "See you at dinner, guys," she said, making her way to her own bunk. I smiled, for what reasons I didn't know, before trying to fall asleep. Before I knew it, I was reliving my odd experience from this morning. Once again, I was flying through the tunnel, before all but slamming into my real, well-used human body. I felt an odd sense of loss; I was sad to be away from my Avatar, from the incredible sensations that ceased to dull.

Even as the pod was opened and Grace led me and Norm to the Mess Hall, informing us that we were going out tomorrow, my thoughts dwelled on what I'd just left. As I collapsed into my cot, I looked forward to the day ahead. Thoughts of Tom and SPECTRE were absent; I felt nothing but anticipation, anticipation to explore this incredible world in my new Avatar.

**

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So yeah, I'm basically rewriting the story to fit the way I would have done it. I hope you guys will actually read this stuff. Please review, and look forward to more.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi, I apologize most strongly for my rebounding between first and third person last chapter; I honestly didn't notice. From now on, this is firmly third-person, unless I expressly announce a change for a certain perspective on something. Thank you for your time, and please enjoy chapter number 2.**

**P.S.: If my actions and mannerisms for the characters are off, it is because of one of two reasons: A) that's just how I'm writing it, or B) I am a sophomore with no job and no ride, and my dad only ever goes to see a movie once, so I can't re-see the movie to refresh details.**

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When the first thing you hear in the morning is that the executive head of the entire operation you're working in wants to see you, you know it's going to be a bad day. Such were Jake's thoughts as he made his way to Parker Selfridges's office. Jake already had a good idea of what Selfridge wanted with him. They might have needed him to pilot Tom's Avatar, but there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that RDA would make the effort to get a SPECTRE and not use it. Jake sighed; he thought he'd left all the smoke-and-daggers, hush-hush missions back on Earth. Evidently not.

Jake entered the office just off the base's command center, the door closing behind him with a slightly ominous hiss. Selfridge was sitting in his plush swivel chair, toying with a chunk of some silvery rock Jake knew to be Unobtanium. Jake noted the unmistakable greed and solace in Parker's eyes as he regarded the stone; it was obvious to anyone that Selfridge was obsessed with the stuff. Jake figured that no act would be too heinous to this guy, so long as he got to mine his precious resource. All of this was noted in the first few seconds within the office.

Parker looked up from the rock, regarding Jake with a calculating stare. "Black ghoul wailing," he said, right out of the blue. To anyone else, it was meaningless gibberish. To Jake, it was a code. "White ghost moaning," Jake calmly replied, a hard pit of apprehension settling within his stomach. He'd come here to escape the horrors of his past and carry on Tom's dream; that was undoubtedly about to end. Jake could already tell that from now on, all his time here was going to be about the 'mission'. Jake felt actual regret; damn, but he'd really gotten his hopes up that it was all over.

Parker cleared his throat, and hit a switch on his desk that darkened the windows, screening the pair off from the bustling hub of activity right outside the door. Parker deposited the Unobtanium on a metallic pad. The unique magnetic field of the quasi-crystal led to it floating over the pad. Parker leaned back in his chair, his eyes never leaving Jake. "You know, when the board told me what you were, I was… anxious." He tried to sound casual, but something in his tone set Jake on guard. "I mean, how was I supposed to react, learning that the replacement for a lost Avatar was a part of the group I'm not allowed to talk about?"

Parker laughed to himself; Jake opted to remain silent. "I'll cut right to the chase with you, Jake. Grace can preach all she wants about her precious trees and how those savages are important. But, I don't really care about the rights of some flea-bitten tree-huggers. I mean, why should I? We open a school to teach them English, offer them medicine, build them roads, and how do they react? They spit in our faces and ambush my mining parties." The possessiveness in his voice was unmistakable; he seemed to realize that, and took a moment to collect himself. Apparently, he hadn't wanted to show Jake just how much he coveted Unobtanium.

"Here's the thing," Parker said, breaking the silence that had started to settle, when Jake proved uninterested in talking. "Their home is right on top of the richest deposit of Unobtanium for two hundred klicks in any direction. If I just blow them up, the company gets bad PR. If I just sit around waiting for Grace to find a diplomatic solution, the company gets a bad quarterly report. I'd rather avoid both." Here, Jake unconsciously stood at attention. He was about to be assigned a mission; he was to be attentive and willing. Whatever his personal feelings, training ruled: follow the mission. With that rule literally do-or-die where Jake came from, the lesson stuck.

"I don't care how you do it; I am ordering you under RDA executive jurisdiction to infiltrate their ranks. Give them the puppy-dog eyes, make a disguise, whatever; I want you to get in. From there, you are to do everything in your power to make them move, by any means necessary." Parker paused, but Jake didn't need it to get the message: in black-ops, any means necessary and assassination were practically mutually inclusive terms. This was what Jake was trained for.

Parker continued when Jake nodded. "You are also to supply me with as much _useful_ information about these guys as possible. If push comes to shove and I have to doze over them, I'd like to make it clean. Do you understand the mission, soldier?" Jake had to suppress the urge to chuckle at Parker's script; all the avarice had been genuine, but the rest had obviously been memorized off some script. Here I am, Jake thought, reduced to taking orders from a cowardly suit with an obsession. This was bound to be interesting.

"I'll get it done, sir." The words carried with them total confidence; Jake had done this kind of thing before. He wasn't just Jake anymore; he was a sergeant of SPECTRE with a mission. It would be done.

Jake shook his head as he made his way towards the lab, once released from Parker's office. He had long ago come to regret ever accepting the offer made from SPECTRE. It didn't matter that Jake had had the promise of his legs dangled in front of him and the fact he'd probably have 'disappeared' if he refused. Given the chance to relive it, Jake would gladly have said no. An upgraded body and wages two pay grades up was most definitely not worth all the shit he had to endure in exchange.

Jake thought to himself _'Day two on the alien planet/moon thing, and I'm already roped up into an infiltration job. And I haven't even had breakfast yet. Jee, ain't things going just grand?'_ His sarcasm went unheard.

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Jake opened his Avatar eyes. He stretched while still in his bunk, before rolling out of it. He quickly did some light stretches, loosening up muscles that were a tad sore from his work-out yesterday. He noted out of the corner of his eye Grace getting out of her bunk and moving with an unconscious ease that could only be achieved by years of practice. Norm himself tripped over his own tail as his link connected and he tried to leave his bed. Grace, on the other hand, acted as if this body was more natural than the other.

Jake was somewhere between the two. He was coordinated, much more so than Norm was, but there were still tiny facets of Jake's movements in his human body that didn't carry over to his Avatar one. Plus, he had to deal with a whole other limb to learn how to control. Still, Jake didn't so much as stumble as he finished his stretching and made his way out of the Avatar lodge.

They were going out into the forest today; Norm was getting his first taste of the work he had trained so long for, while Jake's bodyguard status was officially instated. While Grace and Norm prepped their equipment for analyzing the various ecosystems of Pandora, Jake accepted a gun from one of the mercenaries. In his hands, the high-caliber rifle appeared large and clunky, obviously custom-made for Na'vi hands. To Jake, the weapon was just the right size. From that moment on, Jake wasn't on Pandora, but back in the jungle on Earth. He also took a hunting knife.

Their pilot or chauffeur rather, was a fiery Latina chick that introduced herself as Trudy Chacon. She wore black sunglasses, and the first words out of her mouth when she saw Jake were "Hey, tall blue and gruesome. You mind using those oversized limbs of yours to load the equipment, or are you just gonna stand there with the gun and make everyone nervous?" Jake liked her within seconds. She was witty, but playful, and obviously wasn't afraid to take charge. She also had a mouth like an old-fashioned sailor, as was shown by the stream of vitriol she uttered when Norm tripped and dropped one of the crates holding the equipment.

In short order, the equipment was loaded and it was time to go. The doors to the SA-2 Samson were left open, forcing Trudy to wear the exo-pack. Norm watched with a mix of joy and fear as they took off; he obviously hadn't been up in the air before. Jake hung from the rails, expertly adjusting himself with every bump of the helicopter, of which there were surprisingly few. Trudy might have a lot of bark, but she was obviously a good pilot.

They soared over the Pandoran landscape, Jake trying to decode the cacophony he heard from the trees below. The forest itself seemed to be alive, a never-ending chorus of various animal cries and other sounds echoing up from the ground. Grace sat calmly in the center of the cargo area, obviously used to this. She calmly directed Trudy towards one specific clearing, and Jake could practically see her personality lightening, her general crabbiness being replaced by a bright curiosity. She was a scientist, and she was in her element.

Trudy gracefully landed the Samson in the helicopter, turning off the engines when Grace called out "Shut it off; we'll be here a while." Jake moved out of the Samson, surveying the area. They had landed on a slight hill, but the ever-present trees hovered eagerly at the fringes. Jake clenched the gun, automatically scanning the area for hostiles. He was completely synchronized with his soldier persona, years of training proving their use as he calmly waited for his charges to get their stuff ready.

Grace led the party off in the direction of her choice, making her way through the foliage with the experience of long practice, Norm trying to mimic her movements, but inadvertently hitting a few snags, not to mention making an ungodly amount of noise. Jake moved in a slight crouch, his senses at maximum awareness, moving silently through the underbrush. He was practically one with the landscape, locating and cataloguing everything in his range with the sight, hearing, and smell of his Avatar body. This was a hell of a lot better than SPECTRE, he thought. Not only did Jake enjoy slightly better senses than even his upgraded human ones in his Avatar, they also felt natural. Jake wondered how Norm could possess the exact same senses and still seem to be as ignorant of his surroundings as he seemed to be.

Jake shrugged. That was a side-effect of living with a bunch of super-humans for long periods of time. You found yourself wondering why no one else did the things that to you seem obvious. The party continued on their way, Grace leading with purpose, Norm bumbling behind, and Jake following like a shadow. So silent was he that Norm and Grace actually looked back frequently to see that he was still there. Jake rolled his eyes.

After a few minutes of hiking, Norm broke the silence. Well, it had never really gone quiet, but there hadn't been any conversation. The point being, he asked "Where are the Na'vi?" Norm sounded curious, as if he'd expected the aliens to send a welcoming committee. Grace didn't look back, but Jake could feel her smile across the distance. "I'm sure they're watching us right now," she answered, causing Norm to look around nervously.

Jake spoke up. "More accurately, there's a male tailing us about twenty yards up that tree at my five o' clock." At his words, Jake heard the subtle breathing he'd picked up from that direction hitch, as if in a gasp. A soft hiss filled the air, audible even to Norm and Grace. Jake shrugged. "Hmm, seems as if I offended him. Not my fault he's a mouth breather." A soft pattering of feet on wood followed by the sound of a vine being drawn taut informed Jake that the guy following them had left his location. He could practically feel it when the tracker left his range, like a piece of background noise had disappeared, unnoticeable unless you'd been listening for it in the first place.

He returned his attention to the scientists, only to find them staring at him. Norm was looking at Jake with awe, while Grace's eyes held deep suspicion. "How the hell could you tell where he was?" she asked, her tone warning him that she was approximately ten seconds away from outright paranoia. Jake shrugged, and offered one of the many half-truths he had stored for explanations of his unnatural aptitude. "I track down guerillas in the jungle, ma'am. I didn't make it out alive without learning a few tricks." True enough, but not a straight answer. He couldn't very well tell her he already accustomed to advanced senses and all the uses pertaining.

Her eyes narrowed, but she seemed to accept Jake's answer. Still, her distrust of him had come to the surface. She continued leading them to the area she planned to scope out, Norm falling behind so he could enthusiastically talk to, or rather interrogate, Jake. "That was so cool! Do you have some kind of sixth sense or something?" Jake shook his head, mentally preparing himself for a long train of nagging on the specifics of his abilities. He was not disappointed.

Norm questioned Jake nonstop for a full five minutes. Jake was practically on auto-pilot as he repeated over and over again, in one form or another, "Yes, it's cool. No, I can't teach you. No, I won't tell you how." Norm, whose thirst for knowledge was like an unstoppable river, had finally met an immovable object, splitting the currents away like a great rock. No matter how much Norm pressed, Jake refused to answer.

Ironically, it was Grace that came to Jake's rescue. "Norm, shut up. We're here." Norm was silenced immediately, like a child scorned by his mother. Jake had to fight the urge to laugh. In short order, Grace stuck a needle into one of the roots of a relatively small tree. Almost instantly, an electronic reading of the root appeared on the screen of the odd device. It didn't make any sense to Jake, but Norm gasped. Grace nodded. "You see it too?" she asked, as if testing him. Whatever she saw in the data, Jake got the feeling few others had seen. Norm nodded excitedly.

"That kind of chemical reading… it's incredible! It's almost like they're talking!" Jake tuned out their conversation as the talk became more and more technical as they started bouncing ideas off each other. Jake moved a small distance away, his senses once again at maximum. Almost immediately, Jake became aware of a very large presence somewhere nearby. Conscious thought left the equation; training and instinct now ruled Jake's mind.

Jake moved across the ground, using every ounce of stealth he had. His thoughts, if they could be called that, were very simple. Scope threat. Assess. If peaceful, ignore. If aggressive, kill. A simple cycle, but one that had proved effective time and again back on Earth. If Grace and Norm had looked up then, they wouldn't have seen him. Blue skin, dark green shirt, tan shorts; these things meant nothing. Jake was one with the landscape, and he blended in seamlessly. Like his team's namesake, he stalked toward the thing he had picked up on his sensory radar.

There was one thing Jake had forgotten to account for, something his training simply could not prepare him for. The few pockets of nature on Earth favored by criminals who wanted to hide all played by Earth rules. Jake had dismissed the one part of Quaritch's lecture that could have proven of use to him: follow Pandora's rules. And the rule of Pandora was this: Helicoradian ferns had evolved to collapse in on themselves at the slightest touch, to consume whatever insect that set off the reaction. As Jake moved through the pocket of ferns, they all snapped closed loudly, drawing attention from any and all creatures with auditory capabilities. Jake cursed under his breath.

Jake stood up, stealth forgotten, as he surveyed the creature that now held him in its sights. It looked like a child's fantasy of a dinosaur, hopped up on steroids. Its thick hide was a sky blue, with markings of purple. In general body shape, it resembled a rhino, though at least twice as big as any rhino that had existed on Earth before poaching had rendered them extinct. However, its head was a distinct hammerhead shape, with a mouth full of sharp teeth beneath the thick plate of bone. It also varied from any other Earth creature in the fact that Jake swore the thing had antennae, six legs, and it had a long tail. It opened its mouth, and roared loudly, proclaiming its rage at Jake's presence.

Jake stood his ground, not so easily intimidated. Grace appeared from the direction Jake had come, hanging back when she saw the beast. She didn't bother reproaching him for wandering off; she seemed to have a healthy fear of this creature. Norm was rendered speechless when he saw it, while Grace remained in control. She yelled out at Jake "Don't run! It's a hammerhead titanothere. This is a territorial display. Stand your ground!" Jake nodded, acknowledging the information.

The titanothere snorted; seemingly annoyed that Jake hadn't ran. Roaring again, it started to charge forward. Jake responded in kind, letting loose a loud cry as he charged forward. Did he feel fear? Yes. There are, in general, two ways to deal with fear on the battlefield. The first, and most common, was to completely suppress it, shut off conscious thought, and allow instinct to rule. The second, much rarer but exceedingly more beneficial, was to not only accept the fear, but use it. Only a few used the second method, but these soldiers proved to be the ones more likely to survive. Jake felt the cold fear at the base of his spine and embraced it, harnessing it to make his senses sharper, his muscles more taut, preparing him for either fight or flight as adrenaline pumped through his veins.

The titanothere drew to a halt right in front of Jake. For a second, Jake felt a primal victory from bending the creature's will against his own. Then, the equivalent of a bomb alert went off inside his head. Even as the lone titanothere turned around to flee, Jake ducked and pushed himself with his legs in the direction his survival instinct screamed he should be moving. He was none too soon.

A massive claw made its way through the space that once occupied Jake's torso. Jake's mind was on overdrive as he scanned the new threat. It was at least twenty feet long from tip to tail, and was a deep black except for brief flashes of yellow and scarlet. It resembled a panther, but no panther had chitinous armor over most of its body, or ten quills around its head. And no terran predator had ever had teeth that long, barring the T-Rex. It roared at Jake, and he could practically taste the difference between this one and the titanothere's. This roar wasn't one of territorial possession, but of hunger.

The scene froze, as Jake's mind was driven to heights he only ever experienced in the heart of combat. The situation was simple and obvious in this state, and Jake could make the decisions that needed making with ease. This beast was tough; that was evident. Possibly bulletproof, depending on how thick that armor was. Jake knew he couldn't fight it here. Grace and Norm, much more defenseless and tempting prey, were right there. If Jake managed to hurt it, it would only go off for them. Jake had to draw it away. They were scientists, assets; he was just another soldier. Parker's words held no sway in Jake's tactical mind at that moment.

Yelling fiercely, Jake deliberately aimed to miss as he fired the gun. The ground as its feet seemed to explode as the bullets tore furrows in the ground. The creature hunched in reflex, before hissing in anger. Without any word to the obviously frightened Norm or the worried Grace, who was yelling "Thanator, run!" Jake turned and ran, knowing that the predator would instantly chase after the fleeing pray.

Jake flew through the trees, unconsciously following the best route his eyes could track through the tangle of roots that made up the forest floor. Jake felt something rising within him as he fled: an alien sense of joy that could only have come from the Na'vi part of his Avatar's genetics. Even as his mind calculated how to kill the beast that now chased him, his body took delight in running as fast as it could through the lush landscape. For the first time, Jake felt the Na'vi pleasure of sprinting through the jungle.

Any other man might have been thrown off by the conflicting forces of a human mind in a Na'vi body. Jake, however, was not most men, not even close. He melded the two in an instant, allowing his body to run on instinct as his mind made a plan to defeat the predator that even now he could hear gaining. Jake heard the sound of falling water ahead, and could see an opening in the trees. A waterfall. A list of simple equations flitted across Jake's mind: water equals personal survival, live thanator plus personal survival equals dead Norm and Grace, dead thanator equals live Norm and Grace.

That was simply the way the thoughts formed as Jake ran. He had formed a plan. Now it was time to execute that plan. Just as Jake cleared the trees, he leapt into the air, shaping the force in his legs to keep him level as long as possible. He twisted that force as it went down, turning Jake around as his body seemed to hover above the surface of the river far below. The thanator stopped at the edge, roaring in defiance at its escaping prey. Jake moved. It wasn't slow motion, his brain had just sped up to fit more into every second. Jake aimed for the creature's open mouth, and let loose a controlled wave of fire, the reverse momentum of the bullets pushing the gun against Jake's chest. The thanator's head was torn to shreds as the bullets pierced the soft tissue of its unprotected mouth. A few rounds made their way down its throat, piercing a few major organs for good measure.

Gravity reclaimed Jake as he plummeted down into the water. When he resurfaced, he was sane, his mind and body beginning to cool down from the intensity of the past few minutes. Jake let go of the gun, its cumbersome weight dragging him down. The water would have already messed it up, the eager waters of the river moving the numerous tiny winches inside that simulated gunpowder out of place. With sure strokes, Jake moved with the current, angling for the shore, listening with some satisfaction to the thump the thanator's body made as it slumped to the ground.

The current was insanely strong, and Jake was surprised to find that when he finally pulled himself out of the water, the waterfall was out of sight. As Jake calmly wringed out his clothes, he assessed the situation. He was separated from his group, with no knowledge of the local geography. He was meant to stay in this spot until they spotted him from the air with the Samson when they started searching for him. That wasn't an option, as standing in the open would attract predators, while he had no weapon except for the now flimsy-looking knife. He could hide himself from the predators, but that would defeat the purpose of being spotted and extracted.

Nope, Jake was on his own. He reviewed what he knew. He would snap back to his human body when he went to sleep, but if he did it out in the open, his Avatar would be snatched up by any predator passing by. He'd be tossed on the next shuttle back for wasting an Avatar, probably put on trial by RDA when he got back. That meant Jake not only had to survive around twelve hours in alien terrain with no weapon except the small knife at his belt, a challenge in and of itself, but also find shelter.

'_Well, no time like the present,'_ Jake thought wryly. He had been in this kind of situation before, though not on the scale Pandora presented. He had survived that time, and he could survive this one. With a goal in mind, Jake took a deep breath, before going into full-out SPECTRE mode, i.e. the extension of his senses and the utilization of his stealth.

Jake made his way through the jungle, only moving to avoid being found by any hungry creatures twice his size. He kept to the ground, having no idea how to move across the treetops as apparently the Na'vi did. Jake instantly ducked for cover every time an animal entered his range, but half the time it was just some of the monkey-like creatures that seemed to favor the area.

Jake had been going for about an hour and was still making his way when he went still. There had been a slight disturbance within his range. It was small, barely noticeable, but Jake knew that if it was that small, it meant trouble. He either sensed things right away or not at all. If there was something mild, it meant that someone or something with equal stealth was nearby. Jake instantly turned towards the slight sound he'd sensed, and his eyes locked on the first Na'vi he'd ever seen.

Though she resembled the Avatars Jake had seen, there was something fundamentally different about her. It wasn't just the lower amount of appendages or the slightly different shape of her eyes. Her entire body was coiled, and exuded a danger and grace that Jake could never hope to mimic. She fit in perfectly with the scene, melding into the forest better than he himself had. Her eyes widened when he stared at her, but for the most part she kept the bow in her hands taut.

Jake froze, making no movement. He wondered why she didn't just shoot, but there seemed to be an odd indecision in her eyes, though that could have just been his imagination. He considered his options, even as he stared her down. At that close a range, and with the obvious strength of the Na'vi and the correlating strength of their bows, he didn't have a prayer of dodging the arrow. He might be able to catch it, but that would be a serious test on his reflexes, and Jake doubted whether his body had adapted enough for such a lightning-fast movement. It was official: she had him at her mercy.

A small thing appeared, oddly enough giving Jake the impression of a seed, seemingly made of light as it pulsated and undulated on the air. Slowly, it landed on the tip of the Na'vi's arrow. Her eyes seemed to widen in shock, though Jake didn't see the significance in the odd creature. After resting on the arrow for a moment, the thing took off, quickly disappearing from sight as it drifted in the zephyrs. The Na'vi woman stared at him a moment longer, confusion in her eyes, before she put the arrow in a pouch and slung her bow across her back. With that, she took off into the trees, swiftly disappearing from Jake's range, even as he memorized her scent in case she snuck up on him once again.

Momentarily confused by her actions, Jake came to the conclusion that it had something to do with the creature. It must be a cultural thing, since she expressed no fear in the creature itself, and thus wouldn't need to flee to avoid a swarm of them. Jake stored the fact for later, but didn't worry about it further.

The day continued in this manner, Jake moving aimlessly through the wilderness as he avoided the wildlife to the best of his ability. When he started getting hunger pains, he managed to follow his nose to one of the fruit bushes he'd seen growing in the Avatar complex. Jake snacked on two or three of these, satisfying both his hunger and his thirst due to the sheer juiciness of the fruit, but didn't linger. The sun was beginning to set, and Jake could literally feel the difference as the temperature shifted and the ground started vibrating as the nocturnal creatures of Pandora began to stir from their slumber.

Jake could hear the sound of an engine in the distance, most likely Trudy, Grace, and Norm looking for him, but it was too far away for him to even hope to signal. The sound soon faded, mere minutes before the sun was swallowed by the horizon. It was like nature had flipped some kind of switch. All the plants started to glow with a plethora of colors from bioluminescence, while an entirely different symphony of animal calls filled the night. The world seemed to have slowed its breathing, relaxing for the night. Jake was not put at ease, though; night creatures were naturally better at stealth, and in general better hunters.

Jake's first impulse was to make a fire, but he quickly discarded that concept. The military wanted reaction from the lower ranks; in SPECTRE, every member was expected to think through every situation. What little info Jake had on the Na'vi suggested that they didn't needlessly hunt, and thus would not venture out at night. Plus, if Jake's own eyes were anything to go by, they had very decent night vision. They would not have used fire, and thus the animals would not have developed the instinct to avoid it. Fashioning a torch would be akin to painting a target on the back of his head.

Jake continued to creep across the ground, moving considerably slower than he had during the daytime. He knew that at night, any form of movement, unless the thing moving had very good camouflage, was much more noticeable. In his light colors and blue skin, he'd stick out like a sore thumb if he strayed far from any large tree. However, another popular detection method evolution had produced was heat signatures. The only way to suppress that was to hide near water, where the mist and dew would sufficiently mask his presence.

Jake was making his way towards the sound of running water, when the end of the world happened. Jake swiveled around, his eyes scanning for the sources of the hissing that had him surrounded. His eyes, now fully adjusted to the night, could clearly see at least a dozen dog-like creatures both on the ground and in the trees around him. They were the size of large dogs, the comparison enhanced by the pack mentality they were demonstrating as they circled him.

Jake had no idea how they had managed to sneak up on him; he'd been on full alert since the sun had gone down. Apparently, these things were just that good. They had only revealed themselves when they'd had him cornered. Jake tensed; he could see that the situation was bad. With resolve, Jake drew the knife from his belt, resigning himself to a fight. Given how he was still new to this body, he didn't know if any of the moves he'd used on Earth would work. He wondered if he'd actually die in this body, or if his consciousness would simply be ejected back to his human body. Feeling an impulse from what Jake figured was the 'Na'vi' half of his Avatar, Jake let out a defiant hiss.

The first one lunged, displaying a speed that gave Jake the impression of moving darkness. The world froze for a single instant, and Jake's mind cleared. It was barely a millisecond; an observer could have blinked and missed it, but Jake's expression changed. He was no longer a soldier calculating bad odds, but a warrior fighting for survival. Jake side-stepped the beast, his hand moving quick as thought. Jake aimed for a convenient hole in the creature's side, probably part of its respiratory system. Jake only managed a light stab, due to the creature's amazing forward momentum, but it cried out in pain. It didn't move after it landed on the ground, its legs giving out beneath it.

Even as Jake was retracting the knife, two others launched themselves as well. Jake ducked, but he felt the stinging fire of pain as one of the creatures managed to nick his shoulder. A third tackled him in his crouched position, and Jake was forced to let go of the knife as he held the creature and its snapping jaws away from his body as they tussled across the ground. Jake landed on top of the creature, and immediately grabbed the thing's head. With a hard jerk, Jake broke its neck.

Jake got up and his eyes scanned for the knife. The past ten seconds had felt like ten months, and Jake struggled to hold onto his cool, his calm in the heat of battle that had allowed him to survive so long. Jake spotted the knife, but he already knew it was useless. The creatures would have only gotten angrier since Jake killed two of them, and those two had taken a lot out of him. Jake didn't have a prayer of taking out the rough two dozen that even now surrounded him.

Jake squared his shoulders, felt his heart beating wildly in his chest, and prepared himself. He'd seen too much death, too much of it at his own hand, to just cower with his eyes closed. He would look death in the eye. As three of the creatures lunged at once, claws extended, Jake felt a serenity fall over him, leaving him calmer than he had ever felt. Calm enough to note the half-familiar scent that was all but on top of him.

Three arrows impacted with the lunging beasts mid-air, each of them knocking them dead out of the air. Jake watched in disbelief as the Na'vi woman from before leapt over his head, her bow held at the ready. She hissed, and the sound was much more impressive than Jake's was. With him, he was just following a foreign instinct from a body not entirely his own. With her, it sounded like a proclamation, telling the world her strength and deadliness. The creatures all whined, seemingly more intimidated by an actual Na'vi. They dallied a little, before they fled into the darkness, leaving Jake alone in the dark with a savage alien woman and five corpses.

Jake tried to gather his thoughts, clearing the odd haze he got every time he came down from his state of ultra consciousness in battle. In the meanwhile, the woman went to each body, muttering something under her breath at each of them. Jake made his way toward her as she whispered over the last one. He could have sworn she was apologizing, based on her tone. "Hey, thanks for that. I was in serious—" He went silent as she turned around and snarled at him. She surprised him by speaking English, though with an odd accent.

"Don't thank. You don't thank for this. This sad. Very sad only." She spoke vehemently at him, as if Jake were responsible for some great sin. Jake moved away, bringing his hands up in a gesture of peace. Jake could sense she was very angry about something, and he knew he had to tread lightly so that anger didn't meet action. She continued yelling at him, as she stood to her full height. "All this is your fault, they did not need to die!" Jake opened his mouth to say something in his defense, but she cut him off. "Your fault! Your fault. You're like a snake, moving so quiet, surprising them, making them attack!"

"Then why did you save me?" Jake asked, seriously confused by this woman. She obviously didn't like him, hell she'd had two chances in the same day to kill him, the first when he heard her, and just now when she could have let those things have their way. He'd never had much of a love life, and it had all but disappeared after getting the wheelchair and joining SPECTRE. Jake could write down on one hand everything he knew about the female mind, and he wasn't even sure if that would apply to a Na'vi. So, yeah, he was in uncharted territory here.

She faltered, and for a moment Jake saw something like admiration in her eyes. "You have a strong heart, no fear… but sneaky, scary like a snake!"

She didn't speak after that, instead turning to leave. Jake, both out of sheer stubbornness and his half-remembered mission, followed her. He walked in the open, since his stealth obviously irked her for some reason. He was following her on a branch that spanned a cliff when she turned around. She pushed against his chest, not hard enough to knock him off, but enough to carry a point. "You should not be here. Go," she said, the admonishment complimented by some kind of hand gesture.

Jake opened his mouth to protest, but the words died in his throat. The reason? Dozens of the glowing things appeared out of nowhere, all of them seeming to hover around Jake. He heard the Na'vi woman gasp. Jake reached out to wave the things away, when her hand darted forward, catching his wrist. "Don't!" she said, and Jake complied. She was, after all, his only ticket into the Na'vi's home. "What are these things?" Jake asked, watching as they seemed to dance around him, but never actually touching him. Every time he shifted his body, they would move away, as if they were attracted to him but refused to make contact.

"Seeds of the sacred tree. Very pure spirits," the Na'vi said, almost reverently. Jake logged that info, but continued to watch the creatures hovering around him warily. _'What does that say,'_ Jake thought, _'when bunches of pure spirits show up around me, but refuse to touch me?'_ The 'seeds' continued to hover around him, before they all drifted off as if in a wind, though Jake detected no breeze.

There was a moment of silence after they left, as if the jungle had quieted down to witness what had just happened. The Na'vi tapped Jake on the shoulder, and she saw an odd resolve in her eyes. "Come," she commanded, completely contradicting her previous statement, before taking off into the forest at a relatively light pace. Jake followed her, wondering what the heck had just happened.

**

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So yeah, the plot seems to be the same… for now. Just watch and wait, people. Please review, and wait for more!**


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